Loud Souls, Silent Voices
by Witness2HumanitiesInsanity
Summary: Life is a challenge, death is a gift…or is it? Sasuke and Sakura now have to deal with their own set of issues and with them two worlds may just be intertwined. With forces unknown at play, what either of them thought they knew about life and death will be challenged and a bloody and vicious battle for the truth about everything will begin…but at what cost?
1. Prologue

Oct. 31st

Sakura had been at it for hours trying to pry the metal lock off the door of the small woodshop room she had been locked in as she struggled to get free. She stopped for a moment breathing heavily as she looked at the dented and damaged lock seeing she did have to work much harder to break it completely.

She set the crow bar in the small gap between the lock and the door and with one final hard pull she heard a snap and a glang as the metal lock hit the floor. Stopping again she dropped the crow bar and quickly left the room seeing a mess. Things in the hall had been knocked over, the lamp was on the floor flickering and she could see all kinds of a struggle as she followed the mess of broken glass and uchiha belongings.

"Sasuke!" she called as she finally came to the main halls star case and started climbing them, but stopped when she saw some blood on the wall. A hand print.

"Sasuke?!" she called out again running up the rest of the stairs and moving down the hall seeing more and more evidence of an injury till she finally saw a bedroom light on through the crack of an open door and slowly approached it. She hesitated as her heart hammered against her chest her hand now on the door.

"Sasuke?" she said pushing the door open slowly looking into the bedroom, her heart hammering harder and harder until the door was completely open and she saw what had occurred, everything becoming an eerie dead silence…


	2. Chap 1: Oct 28th

Oct. 28th

Sakura Haruno had never been very loud or out going. Needless to say she wasn't much of a party animal either. Surprising considering the fact she was a 17 year old junior in high school. She spent most of her time focusing on school work, studying and getting good grades to get into the College she wanted. So where did this put her the high school food chain? The bottom of the pyramid.

Sakura was constantly harassed and bothered by her fellow class mates almost every day. She was smart, there was no doubt about that but she needed to work for her grades and it was because of this that she was harassed. She looked at as dull, boring and pathetic. The biggest culprit to these harassment was Karin. Konoha Highs most "popular", even more so because of her current boyfriend, Sasuke Uchiha.

Sasuke Uchida was boy wonder in educational aspects. He always got straight A's, hardly trying at all to get those marks and without cheating also. He was just gifted. Which isn't to much of a surprise considering his family. His problem however was his attitude and his record. Since junior high he's earned a rep for getting into fights. He has a short fuse and when it reaches it end, it has a hell of an explosion. His older brother, Itachi believes it stems from the family massacre and has attempted time and time again to get him to go to therapy but Sasuke never does. Is he a bully? No. In fact he may not be very sociable or 100% friendly but he doesn't prey on people either. All in all, it was just an ordinary high school, but this gs were about to change dramatically and things would be everything but normal.

Sakura spent her lunch period alone on this day since her friend Hinata, one of the few friends she actually had was home sick. With that she spent the period just reading one of her favorite books while she waited for her next class to start. Or at least that was the plan till a Karin stepped in.

"Hey Saku." Karin said sitting next to her with her legs crossed making her already short skirt lift up a little too much.

"Saku?" She responded with a raised brow "why the pet name?"

"Don't be like that, Saku. We're friends right?"

"Well if that's the case, with friends like you who needs enemies?"

"Oh you're so funny." Karin said with mock laughter "anyway, so ext period is our trig test, so I'm gonna sit next to you today and take a peek at your test ok?"

"Um...how about, no." Sakura said looking at Karin like she had 5 heads "I'm not going to risk getting a zero because of someone like you. Besides...I'm not even all that good at Trig."

Karin's fake smile slowly faded as it turned into a glare "you should try tutoring or studying to help yourself out." Sakura added

"For what?" Karin spat as she stood up "to end up like you. Whatever. Your clearly no use to me anyway...stupid bitch."

And with that Karin knocked Sakura's lunch off the table laughing as some of the Ketchup from her fries landed on her jeans. Making Sakura stand up as she tried to wipe away the sauce before it stained, and doing her best to ignore some of the laughter in the lunch room.

"I only have so many pairs of jeans, Karin!" She said dabbing the sauce "I can't afford to buy more!"

"awww sorry Saku...it was just an accident." Karin continued to mock and laugh before she walked off out of the lunchroom.

Sakura sighed cleaning herself off as best as she could before leaving the lunchroom herself to head to her next class.

Walking down the white halls of the Konoha High she thought of how much longer she would have to put up with Karin's harassment. It was driving her crazy and she had half the mind to just transfer out of Konoha High and go to Suna High. Then again Gaara wouldn't have come all the way from Suna if his High School was all that great to begin with. Frustrated she ran her hand through her hair and sat down on the floor next to her classroom door since it was still locked.

"Looks like I have a decision to make." She mumbled to herself leaning her chin on her knees till she saw a pair of black boots step in front of her 'What now?' she thought to herself.

"Sorry about what Karin did to you." She heard the tone of serious male voice say

"It's nothing new." Sakura said shrugging "What are you going to do. I can't stand her."

"Guess so. This should cover a new pair of jeans if that stain doesn't come out." The male said putting thirty dollars on top of her bag before walking away. She looked at the money and then down the hall where she saw the familiar spiked up back hair style that belonged to Sasuke Uchiha and that was the first day they had ever exchanged words.


	3. Chap 2: Oct 29th

Oct. 29th

Global history was a subject Sakura liked but couldn't seem to exactly grasp entirely. Of course she was study for tests and would pass but it took a lot of time for her to understand and grasp everything. She paid to Mr. Azuma all the time and wrote good notes so that helped also, but considering that her mid-terms were coming up she was making extra sure to get down as much info as she could. Mr. Azuma always looked for a way to make his tests longer, challenging or throw the students for a loop, so who knew what he would do this year.

"All right everyone so as you know Mid-terms are coming up, don't worry those of you who had me last year my test is still only about 40 questions." He said with a slight smile.

Sakura as well as half of the class sighed in relief at an idea of getting a break for once, or so they thought.

"However-" he began and once again the class groaned "I'm throwing a little extra project assignment for you. You'll be in teams of two. Each team will get a topic and all you have to do is make a model of whatever you want from the topic I give you. Not so bad right?"

"Guess not." Sakura mumbled to herself while Mr. Azuma started assigning teams before glancing at Karin who was sitting next to Sasuke, as usual gawking over him while he sat back in his seat wearing his usual serious expression and his arms crossed, his onyx colored eyes focused on the teacher.

"Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha" she heard Mr. Azuma say and looked at him

"What was that?!" Sakura asked wide eyed

"You and Mr. Uchiha are partners in this Ms. Haruno. Is that a problem?" Mr. Azuma asked with an eyebrow raised

"Yes!" Karin snapped quickly "Sasuke's my boyfriend!"

"Ok…and Ms. Haruno is his history class partner for this assignment. Deal with it. He doesn't seem to have any issues with the idea." Replied Mr. Azuma

"Sasuke…say something!" Karin whined and he just closed his eyes seeming annoyed

"Stop whining. Your annoying the hell out of me." He simply said

"well now that that's settled let's move along." Mr. Azuma said as he continued down the list of teams.

'Great!' Sakura thought to herself 'just what I need. Another reason for Karin to make my life a living hell while I'm still in this school. Honestly did I do something to deserve this?!...i mean the worst I've ever done is hit Naruto over the head, but he's fine and we're friends…oh no…but he and Sasuke are best friends…that must be it! Because I know Naruto who knows Sasuke I have to suffer now because Sasuke is dating Karin. Fate can be so cruel sometimes.' Sakura groaned leaning her head on her desk feeling a headache coming on.

"Is the idea of being my partner really so bad?" she heard Sasuke's voice say and lifted her head seeing him sitting in front of her and she jumped.

"What are you doing here?!" Sakura quickly asked

"Mr. Azuma said to sit with our partners. Were you not listening?" he asked his arms still crossed

"I just didn't hear him is all." Sakura said mumbling as she opened her text book "so what's our topic?"

"he gave us the French Revolution." Sasuke said taking her text book and going to the chapter they needed while she sat there playing with her pen awkwardly, feeling Karin's burrow into her as she did so.

"Here." He said getting the chapter

"any ideas on what you want to do?" she asked and he shrugged

"There's a lot we can do…I'm not exactly sure what we should pick though." He said

"Oh I know." She said as she snapped her fingers and then smiled "how about we do the execution of Marie Antoinette?!"

"hm" he stood there and thought and then nodded "Sounds like a good idea to me. I can make the guillotine-"

"and I can handle the models of the people…and we can do the environment together." Sakura said as she wrote down the jobs for each of them

"The faster we get this done the better." He said

"Yeah definitely. So when is it good for us to meet up to put this all together?" Sakura asked a little uncomfortable considering she knew Karin was listening to everything they were talking about, yet she took some satisfaction in knowing that Karin was bothered by it and secretly laughed in her head.

"Are you busy Halloween?" he asked

"Halloween?...really?...aren't you going to a party or something? I know Naruto said he was and Karin too." Sakura said and Sasuke sighed

"All because Karin and Naruto might be party animals doesn't mean I am. Besides I promised Itachi I'd stay home this year and not get myself into any trouble."

"You usually get into trouble on Halloween?" Sakura laughed lightly

Sasuke sighed again looking slightly annoyed as he shook his head "No Naruto usually does, but since I'm with him I'm usually dragged into it."

"So Halloween is the only exception you make to not get yourself into trouble then?" Sakura said sarcastically making him looked at her as she mockingly placed her chin in the center of her palm waiting for his answer.

"…guess I walked right into that one." He said just as the bell rang "we'll talk more tomorrow about the project. When do you have lunch again?"

"8th period" she said as Karin came over grabbing Sasuke's arm trying to drag him out but he ignored her acting as if she wasn't there.

"Ok. I'll talk to you then." He said and then left the room with the oh so clingy Karin while Sakura was left there laughing to herself putting her things away. 'maybe being his partner won't be so bad after all.' She thought to herself picking up her bag and leaving the room. And that was the day Sasuke and Sakura were forced to finally actually associate with each other.


	4. Chap 3: Oct 30th

Oct. 30th

Eighth period came and the lunch room crowded with people, as it does every day. Voices of people talking was heard throughout the room bouncing off the walls and making things sound louder than they actually were. Sakura in the meantime was sitting at a table eating the sandwich she had brought from home while looking over a few design ideas she had to make the whole execution scene model till she saw Sasuke walk over to her.

"Sasuke. Hey!" she said loudly with a smile as she looked at him from her seat

"Wanna go to the library?!" he asked "It's quieter and we won't have to shout the whole time just to talk to each other!"

"Yeah. Sounds like a good idea!" said grabbing her things and following him out of the lunchroom to the more silent halls. She sighed in relief not having to deal with the racket that sounded like a concert audience in the lunchroom as they headed to the library.

The walk over there was relatively quiet between the two till Sasuke broke the silence.

"I made the guillotine last night." He said making her look up at him for a moment

"wow really?!" she asked surprised, but not really I mean this was Sasuke Uchiha

"Yeah. I was able to use one of my father's old katana blades to make it." He said opening the door to the library for her.

"No way…you used a real blade?!" she said shocked and then looked around the library before leaning toward him and whispering "can't we get in trouble for that?"

"so long as I say it's for a project it shouldn't be besides.-" he began as he sat down at a table in the back of the library along with sakura "I won't say anything unless they ask. You?"

Sakura looked at him thinking to herself for a minute about if it was a good idea to keep something like that a secret but what harm could it really do honestly.

"No I won't tell anyone." She said "unless they ask of course."

"fine by me." He said before reaching into his book bag and pulling out the miniature guillotine.

"Wow sasuke." She said brightly "it looks great. Very realistic too! I can't believe you made this in one night?"

"it wasn't to hard." He said and she scoffed

"Not for you. This would have taken me forever." She said with a roll of her eyes before she gave him a humorous evil grin "does it work…you did say it has a real blade."

"Of course it works." He said with a smirk "I don't half ass things."

"I wanna try it!"

"Excuse me?" he asked with a raised eyebrow seeing he finger in the small head slot and went to tell her something before she moved her finger and replaced it with a cheese doodle and he relaxed a bit.

"Seriously?" he asked

"Well I don't have anything else to use. So how does this work?" she asked

"push the little lever there and it'll let the blade down." He said and she smiled a little as she push it and the blade fell sure enough cutting the cheesy cheese snack in half.

"wow. That's so cool!" she said cleaning off the small blade and till something hit her and she frowned lightly.

"What's wrong?" sasuke asked wondering what had suddenly started bothering her.

"you said you used one of your father's old Katana's right?" she said and he nodded

"well…don't you treasure the few things that belong to your parents?" she asked and he stood silent. For a moment Sakura had regretted even opening her mouth. The Uchiha massacre was national news. Sasuke and his older brother Itachi's parents along with the rest of their family was brutally murdered when Sasuke was only seven years old. Needless to say it left a scar that definitely wouldn't heal.

"…I do…but it was a sword he intended on throwing away anyway." Sasuke said with his eyes closed and Sakura could tell he was pained by the mention of his parent's tragic end.

"I'm so sorry…that was none of my business I shouldn't have-"

"It's fine." He quickly said looking at her "it just means you care about family value. That's more than I can say for some people. I guarantee even Karin wouldn't have asked about that."

"Yeah…I sure." Sakura said with a slight giggle as she looked at him and smiled softly while he sat there in thought just staring at the table off in the distance in his mind till she decided to snap him back to reality.

"So…your dad collected samurai swords?" sakura asked

"Kind of…he was a trained swordsmen. He not only collected but he knew how to use them. It was a skill taught to everyone from generation to generation." He said

"So that means you know how to use a sword too?!" she asked fascinated

"yeah…I do." He said with a smirk

"Wow. Is it hard?" she asked "I've always wanted to know what it would be like being able to wield a sword like a pro."

"hmph…well maybe I can show you sometime." He said and she blushed lightly at the idea of hanging out with the Sasuke Uchiha outside of school when it didn't have to do with school work.

"r-really?...i mean…won't Karin get upset? I don't want to cause a problem for you." Sakura said not really looking at him

"She can deal with it." He said annoyed at the mention of her name and Sakura could tell

"Can I ask you something?...i just hope I'm not over stepping my boundary here." She said

"Why am I dating Karin?" he asked the question before sakura even had a chance to get the question out.

"y-yeah." She said "I mean…you clearly don't like her…and it seems like she only uses you for her benefit. Considering your families large company I wouldn't think it's to far off of an idea."

"no she's no criminal mastermind." Sasuke sighed "But I have dealt with her dad on multiple occasions from when I was arrested. On one particular day when I was arrested for a d.u.i. he basically blacked mailed me into dating his 'sweet little girl'…at least until her prom night was over then I could call the whole thing off and we could go our separate ways."

"so in other words…date Karin for a year or do hard time?" sakura asked and he nodded "I would've done hard time."

Sasuke smirked at her comment before he shrugged "didn't want to embarrass my brother too much."

"Well that was nice of you." She said as the bell rung for the next period "whoops…didn't really talk much about the project did we?"

"It's fine…after all we did agree to meet tomorrow." He said "unless your doing something that is."

"Oh no…so…where are we meeting?" she asked

"my place." He said standing up after he put his things away "you know where it is right?"

"Yeah. Can't say I found out on good terms but yes…I know." She said looking up at him

"All right. See you then ." he said and she nodded

"Oh wait sasuke!" she called out stopping him for a moment "would it be to much to ask for your number. Just in case I need to contact for any reason involving the project."

"sure." He said and she wrote down her number on a piece of paper and gave it to him.

"You can just text me your number." She said and he nodded leaving the library with a wave while she backed up her things till she heard her phone vibrate and opened it seeing it was a text message

**To: Sakura**

**From:(unknown)**

**Our conversation was a nice change of pace from what I'm usually used to. Feel free to call or text me even after this project is over.**

Sakura smiled lightly at the text and changed the name before responding.

**To: Sasuke**

**From: Sakura**

**I'd be happy to. ^-^**

And that was the day Sasuke and Sakura bonded.


	5. Chap 4: Oct 31st

"Sakura are you going out tonight?" Sakura's mother asked as she opened her daughter's bedroom door

"Just going to Sasuke's house for the project." Sakura simply responded fixing her short pink locks.

"Why not go to a little party or even trick or treating. It's Halloween sweety have a little fun." Her mother said

"Shouldn't you be encouraging me to be doing school work mom?" Sakura laughed "if I ditch this for a little party or to go trick or treating that miss I have to skip working on my project."

"Multi-tasking sweetheart. It's called multi-tasking."

"do you know how late I would be up if I did that?!" sakura asked shocked

"Well you gotta do what you gotta do." He mother laughed lightly

"and that is exactly why I'd rather go work on my project. Here-" sakura said slipping an old pink and black witch hat on top of her head "I added a little Halloween flare to my outfit."

"witch hat, purple shirt, jeans and converses…your definitely not a fashionista honey." Her mother teased

"Oh shut up. I'm just going for a project." Sakura laughed "no sense in getting all fancy. Anyway bye mom, love you be back in a little while."

"Love you too!" her mother called as she watched her daughter leave the house.

* * *

Sakura looked around as she saw kids excitedly run from home to home getting candy with their friends and family and she couldn't help but smile at some of the costumes. From the basic vampire and witch to demons, faries, ghosts and everything in between till she came to Sasuke's stopping to admire the large home.

It was all large two story home, completely brick on the outside and with a pretty large backyard as well from what she could see just from the front of the house alone. she walked up the cobble stone path to the front door and rang to door bell waiting only about a minute before Sasuke opened one of the double doors to the large home stepping aside to let her in.

"wow!" Sakura said looking around at the marble floor and the large spiral stair case leading up to the second floor. She then made her way to the living room seeing the large tv screen mounted on the wall over a fire place and then the family portrait of Sasuke's family caught her eye hanging on the opposite wall. His mother beautiful with he long black hair and his father standing beside her with a serious expression. Beside the father was who she knew was Itachi when he was 13 years old. Long black hair only a little past his shoulders tied up in a ponytail with onyx eyes just like Sasuke and in his mother's arms, was none other than 7 year old Sasuke himself with a bright smile on his face.

"Make yourself at home." Sasuke said breaking her from her trance.

"oh right…thank you." She said setting her bag down next to the couch and her cell phone on the coffee table.

"can I get you anything?" he asked as she followed him to the kichen which was another marvel in itself with marble counter tops, stainless steel appliances and room for about 8 chefs.

"Uh…soda maybe. If you have any." She said surprised but shook her head to snap herself out the traces she was in.

"So where's your brother?" she asked

"Working." He said

"right. I forgot he took over your dad's company." She said as sasuke poured her some soda and handed her the glass "I have to say your house is amazing. I love it."

"Yeah. Mom's taste in design covers the place." He said

"Figured as much, no way a guy could make a place look this nice." Sakura joked

"nice." Sasuke said shaking his head before he gestured with his head for her to follow him "let me take you on the grand tour."

"oooooo!" she said following him as he took her up the spiral stair case

"We'll start from the top and work our way down." He said and she nodded starting off with his parents' bedroom which was clear it hadn't be touched since the mess of their murder was cleaned up. Next up was the bathroom that had a large tub and shower with two sinks and might as well should've just double as another bedroom with how big it was. Then it was his room, which had its own bathroom and turned out to be the darkest room in the house. The walls were painted a dark blue with black trimming, not to mention his all black sheet covered bed, but it was pretty clean considering it was a guy's bedroom though. He skipped his brother's bedroom since Itachi didn't like people going into his bedroom and just moved back down to the first floor where he led her to his father's Katana collection room.

"Whoa…when you said your dad collected katana's you were not kidding!" she said in shock seeing all four walls covered from top to bottom with katana's.

"Told you. Some of these are as old as my great grandfather." He said

"Wow. Have you used any of these?" she asked

"For practice when my dad was alive." He said

"You practiced with real swords?! Isn't that a bit dangerous?!" she asked wide eyed

"We only used them when he was sure we were basically experts." He said as he closed the door to the room and then went next door opening the dead bolt.

"A little wood shop my dad had. Made sure to get a good lock so my brother and I wouldn't go in there and mess with any of his tools or projects. He made my mom's vanity you saw in their bedroom." He said

"Seriously? Your dad was talented. You Uchiha's I swear there's nothing you guys can't do." She said and he just smirked

"no one's perfect." He said as they started heading back to the living room "we better get started before it get's any later."

"Yeah. My mom will flip if I'm not home by at least 11." She said

"hmph..oh…nice outfit by the way." Sasuke said making Sakure look at him confused before she blushed realizing she still had her witch hat on and quickly removed it off her head.

"tis the season right?" she said a little embarrassed and he went to say something till he heard what sounded like glass vase falling over and spilling something in the living room making Sakura jump. They looked at they saw glass beads come rolling out into the hallway a few feet from where they stood.

"May-maybe it's your brother?" sakura suggested lowly trying to hide the nervousness in her voice. Sasuke looked at the time on the clock in the hall and saw it was 9pm. "my brother isn't going to be home for another 3 hours." He said lowly as he started backing up slowly pushing Sakura behind him and from the angle he was in he saw a reflection of a dark figure through the glass on the display case in the hallway across from the entire way of the living room. They figures head whipped to the side and just as Sasuke saw it, it saw him. Not wasting anytime Sasuke grabbed Sakura's arm and ran pulling her to the woodshop room. He quickly opened the door and pushed her in, "I'll be back for you as soon as I can!" he quickly said before slamming the door shut and locking it from the outside, knowing that was the only way to secure the door.

"Sasuke!" Sakura shouted hearing glass breaking and utter chaos before there was a slam against the door and heard Sasuke's grunt before there was even more of a struggle being heard outside the room while sakura was left completely helpless and unable to help in anyway, except pleading for sasuke to open the door and let her help him, but she might as well have been screaming at a wall because there was no response as the intruder in his home continued the assault upstairs. She could hear the distant fighting and banging going on and so she looked for something in the room that could help he get the lock off the door and as luck would have it she found a crowbar next to an old box and grabbed it working at the lock.

* * *

Sakura had been at it for hours trying to pry the metal lock off the door of the small woodshop room she had been locked in as she struggled to get free. She stopped for a moment breathing heavily as she looked at the dented and damaged lock seeing she didn't have to work much harder to break it completely.

She set the crow bar in the small gap between the lock and the door and with one final hard pull she heard a snap and a glang as the metal lock hit the floor. Stopping again she dropped the crow bar and quickly left the room seeing a mess. Things in the hall had been knocked over, the lamp was on the floor flickering and she could see all kinds of a struggle as she followed the mess of broken glass and uchiha belongings.

"Sasuke!" she called as she finally came to the main halls stair case and started climbing them, but stopped when she saw some blood on the wall. A hand print.

"Sasuke?!" she called out again running up the rest of the stairs and moving down the hall seeing more and more evidence of an injury till she finally saw a bedroom light on through the crack of an open door and slowly approached it. She hesitated as her heart hammered against her chest her hand now on the door.

"Sasuke?" she said pushing the door open slowly looking into the bedroom, her heart hammering harder and harder until the door was completely open and she saw what had occurred, everything becoming an eerie dead silence.

She trembled at the sight before her, eyes wide as she looked at the blood soaked area of the bedroom where Sasuke hung. Sasuke, apparently forced onto his knees had barbed wire weaved through his arms and hands attached to the walls holding him in place. She could see gaping holes and gashes where shards of glass had been forcefully shoved along with various different knives all over his body, but the most horrifying sight was his head lolled back hanging there lifelessly with the hilt to a butcher's knife sticking out of his mouth and his eyes covered with a black cloth.

She felt her knees just go completely weak as she hit the floor still staring at him before she closed her eyes tightly wanting to wish the image away.

"Sasuke." She said her voice cracking as she slowly opened her eyes again and looked up still seeing him in that horrifying state. She dared to venture closer as she felt her stomach knot and her eyes water.

She covered her mouth and saw that beneath the cloth she could see what looked like tear steaks on his face and she all but broke down hysterically as she started removing the knives from his body tossing them onto the floor. She tried to remove the glass too but it was too embedded into his body for her to remove it. Crying she stood up and hesitantly removed the knife from his mouth cringing and crying a she heard the sound of flesh being sliced open till she finally removed the large knife and dropped it on the floor. Lastly she went for the barbed wire but ended up cutting her hand trying to remove it, but it was no use. It wouldn't budge.

She fell to her knees in front of him sobbing as she held her hand to her chest using her uninjured on to lean his head forward making blood just run out his mouth. She closed her eyes turning her head away at the sight resting her uninjured hand on the side of his face till she had the courage to look at him again.

"Oh Sasuke…" she said through sobs as she removed the cloth from around his eyes seeing they were closed "I'm so sorry!...i'm so sorry this happened to you!...please…please tell me by some miracle your still alive!" she pleaded pointlessly as she looked at his face. She just shook her head as she wiped away some of the blood on his face and then left the room moving down the stairs using the wall to support her since she felt sick to her stomach. She finally made it to the living room seeing her cell phone on the coffee table still and she immediately hated herself for not having it on her. Choking back a sob she grabbed it sitting on the floor as she dialed the number for the authorities waiting for an answer.

"…S-someone…Someone killed him!" sakura sobbed covering her mouth as her whole body trembled

"SASUKE…SOMEONE KILLED SASUKE!" she screamed before she dropped the phone and just leaned her head against her knees as she continued her cries.

"Sasuke I'm home!" Itachi's voice rang out "What the- Sasuke?!"

Itachi came into the living room seeing Sakura and the destruction of his home.

"Who are you?...where's sasuke?!" he asked in a panic, but she couldn't find her voice it was gone. Itachi frantically looked for his brother before going up the stairs calling for Sasuke.

"Itachi- w-wait!" Sakura choked out but it wasn't loud enough for him to hear.

"sas-no!" she heard Itachi say from upstairs "NO…NOT YOU…NOT YOU TOO! PLEASE NOT MY LITTLE BROTHER! SASUKE!"

Sakura just stood there and lowered her head again listening to Itachi's sobs over his little brother…

And that was the day Sasuke Uchiha died.


	6. Chap 5: Spirit

Four weeks had passed since Sasuke's murder and those two weeks were hell. The night of the attack Sakura spent her night dealing with police and Itachi who begged to know what had happened to his brother. The day after that she spent her whole at a police station being interrogated about what had happened and it was her responses to their questions that lead her in the situation she was in now.

On this Monday evening Sakura spent some time looking out the large window as rain drops slid down her eyes following.

"Sakura…Sakura honey are you going to answer the question?"

"What did you ask me again?" Sakura asked tracing the outline of one of the drops on the window.

"That night…what happened that night? Who attacked the Uchiha home?"

"I told you already." Sakura said to the blonde women sitting in her chair holding a notepad and pen as she calmly waited for Sakura's answer.

"that may be true, but I want to hear it again…I want you to hear yourself again. Now, who attacked the Uchiha home?" the women asked again

Sakura hesitated stopping what she was doing and just sighed lightly settling for just looking out the window. "It was a dark figure. It moved really fast…to fast."

"Could it have been that maybe it was a man…and maybe things just seemed to be moving quickly? That kind of thing is normal in those kinds of situations."

"No-" Sakura said shaking her head lightly as the event slowly played out in her mind. Sasuke and her talking, her smile, his smirk everything seemed fine till that sound caught their attention "the glass beads fell."

"And then what happened?"

"His face changed-" sakura said in a trance like state as the slow moving image continued in her mind. She looked at his face seeing his confusion and then her eyes followed his just as he grabbed her arm and pulled her. Though it may have been only a moment she saw it. The Dark inhuman looking figure with wide white and gray eyes speeding toward them "he pulled me away and it came after us."

"The man?"

"No…it wasn't a man. I know it wasn't. It couldn't have been…it moved to fast."

The woman sighed lightly at her response "then what happened?"

"…'I'll be back for you as soon as I can.'…then he was gone." Sakura said

"Where did Sasuke go after that, Sakura?"

"I don't know…" Sakura said as her eyes started widening more and her breathing becoming a little heavier.

"Sakura?" the women asked seeing her expression

The images were starting to move faster now. Her breaking out of the closet, then the stairs and then finally his room and finally when she saw the paramedics had looked into his eyes and searched for any sign of life in him, but found clouded empty eyes instead before finally closing them again.

"I don't know-" Sakura said her voice trembling as well as her body "He was gone…I don't know where he went…He was just gone."

* * *

**Spirit – (n) the principle of conscious life; the vital principle in humans; the soul regarded as separating from the body at death.**

* * *

'_It's so dark.' _Images of blood splattering against the floor and shouts echoing flashed till it went dark again.

'_Who's that screaming?' _Barbed wire sewing through skin flashed, glass being slowly pushed into the body, then darkness.

'_It hurts…why does it hurt so much!'_ shouts are heard again images of a knife flash then a cloth distorted the image and darkness once again.

'_I can't breath…it hurts!' _gurgling sounds are heard and then a name…distant, but it's there.

'_What's happening…and who's that voice?' _again the name is heard clearer this time.

'_It's closer…no-' _ again the voice is heard much closer this time, only steps away

'_I know that voice…' _the distorted image slow fades further away _'no…don't look…please don't look-'_

A white haired male walked down a dark stone pathway, images imprinted on it as he continued to walk the path while looking at a clipboard. "Hm…guess I am going the right way after all." He said in thought and stopped at a fork in the dark forest like area looking back and forth before looking down at the stone path and then nodding to himself and fixing his glasses "This way then."

He continued down the path till he finally came to a stop and cringed and sucked in a sharp breath. "ouch." He said as he approached the practically mangled Sasuke suspended from barbed wire attached to menacing looking trees. "geez…I don't get nearly enough S.E. to deal with these guys." He said with a sigh hanging his head as he approached Sasuke.

Just then the barbed wire weaved through Sauske's arms and undid themselves and the white haired male supported him "gotta say I don't envy you for having to repeat this death over and over again. Time to snap you out of this-" He said as he removed the knife from his mouth cringing as blood poured out of it and then removed the band from around his eyes and jumped seeing them open.

"Sakura" Sasuke finally spoke his eyes clouded and lifeless.

"Huh…no…Kabuto." The male said and then shook his head "Wait a minute you snapped yourself out of it?!"

Sasuke's clouded eyes slowly shifted and looked at Kabuto who set him down on the stone path leaning him against a tree. "What-What are you-" sauske said as he spat out blood "talking about?"

"You snapped yourself out of your own repeat." Kabuto said knelt on a knee next to him placing his hand over his eyes. When Kabuto removed it Sasuke's eyes started to become normal again and he blinked a few times before looking at the white haired male with glasses in front of him.

"There we go. Can't have you disappearing. I need to try and get you to the other side." Kabuto said

"What do you mean the other side?" Sasuke asked and then rubbed his head looking around the area "Who are you…and where am I?"

"I'm your guide, advisor…whatever you prefer. My names Kabuto" Kabuto said till realization hit him in Sasuke's question "wait…you don't know where you are?"

Sasuke looked around once again and then shook his head as he started to get annoyed "stop playing games with me and tell me where I am!" he snapped

"You're in Purgatory!" Kabuto said

"Purgatory?" Sasuke asked "I don't understand."

Kabuto groaned running his hands down his face as he paced back and forth. "Why…why, why, why, why, whyyyyyy?!...are you kidding me…please don't do this to me!" Kabuto said as he turned to Sasuke pleadingly

"Don't do what?!" Sasuke still confused and Kabuto groaned again.

"Of course. I would end up with this kind of job. Geez I always heard about how difficult these were and I really hopped I wouldn't have to get one!" he mumbled to himself.

"…no…it's fine. You gotta make it fine. You can do this!" Kabuto said, leaving Sasuke to look at the male with an eyebrow raised waiting for an answer, till Kabuto took a deep breath and then turned around putting his hands on his hips.

"Sasuke Uchiha…your dead, you're a spirit now." Kabuto said leaving Sasuke stunned by the news.

"Dead?" Sasuke said completely stunned and then looked down at the ground in thought, searching for reason as to what this stranger had just told her "how?"

"Excuse me?" Kabuto asked with a raised eyebrow

"How did I die?" Sasuke asked looking at him

"You don't know how you died?" Kabuto asked

"No!...all I remember is when I locked Sakura in the woodshop!" sasuke said angrily "if I knew how I fuckin died I wouldn't be asking you how it happened!"

"Ok ok" kabuto said holding his hands up in defense "…you were tortured and killed. Simple as that."

"Being tortured and killed is simple to you?!" Sasuke snapped "that's not something that's easy to just get over…how was I tortured?, who did this to me and why?!"

Kabuto was at a loss for words and his jaw moved up and down slightly not knowing how to deal with this angered soul right away, till he realized the barbed wire that was still wrapped around two trees moving and coiling around them tightly.

"All right. Calm down. Listen…I understand this is hard for you to take in, but listen…it's better if you just move on. There's a better place waiting for you I promise. Just let me guide you there." Kabuto said

"Sakura...is she ok?" Sasuke randomly asked while Kabuto placed his hand on his shoulder and started guiding him into a walking motion.

"Sakura?" Kabuto asked confused

"Yeah…the pink haired girl I was with. She had green eyes?" he asked and Kabuto looked at his clipboard again looking over it.

"Oh ok." He said and then nodded to himself before it disappeared "she's fine. She's alive, just going through some therapy is all."

"Therapy? Why?"

"Well…you know…knowing your friend was killed can be damaging."Kabuto said not wanting to tell him exactly what happened "so let's keep moving."

Sasuke stood silent as he walked with Kabuto still processing what happened. The stone walkway they followed slowly transitioned into a stained glass path seeing a beautiful cherry wood door at the end of the path. He just looked at the door as he continued to follow this path.

'_Guess…I should just move forward.' _He thought to himself till something came to mind.

"She saw me." He said

"What was that?" kabtuo asked

"She was the one who found me." He repeated looking at Kabuto and then looked away "and my brother…we lost everyone in our family. I can't imagine he's doing well…and Sakura. If she was the one who found my body it's no wonder why she needs help." He said and then stopped walking, making Kabuto stop in his tracks also "I'm not going."

"No. Sasuke-"

"I said I'm not going. I need to find out who did this to me. It's not an option." Kabuto said

"Sasuke…there are risks of you staying here and pursuing this. You should just try and move forward." Kabuto pleaded

"No. I already said I'm not going." Sasuke said sternly and suddenly the stained glass pathway shattered beneath their feet and Kabuto looked seeing the door crack and crumble into ash. Kabuto sighed and closed his eyes and then looked back at Sasuke seeing that dark and determined look on his face knowing there was no changing his mind.

* * *

**A/N: Hey peeps, wanna know what you think so feel free to leave comments and review. i look forward to seeing what you have to say and hope your enjoying the story so far. ^-^**

** -W2HI**


	7. Chap 6: Aftermath

The walk was silent between Kabuto and Sasuke as they followed a stone pathway. The only thing keeping Sasuke's mind busy was the new scenery he had to get used to now in his new life, or rather new AFTER-life that is. the darkened blackish purple skies moving extremely fast above him and the black leafless trees along with the old fashioned lamp posts that lined the stone pathways seemed to be the main dominant landscape views here in exception to the larger than life lavender gray moon that hung in the sky and looked to be textured with a grayish smoke that swirled and moved within just beneath the surface.

This was in fact a strange new world he lived in and it definitely reminded him of the situation he was now in. Turning his attention away from the scenery he looked down at the stone pathway just watching it like it was a movie film reel till he noticed something through the corner of his eye and stopped for a moment looking down a branching path.

"What's that?" he asked making Kabuto stop and turn around to see what he was talking about but didn't see anything.

"What's what?" he asked looking at Sasuke

"That." he pointed at the branching stone pathway seeing images engraved on each block and then looked at the other branching pathways seeing images on them also. each of them different from the last.

"oh...well-" Kabuto began and he walked over to it and looked down at one of the image engraved stones "each of these branching paths is a walk way to where a spirit that is currently living here in purgatory lives and each image engraved on their pathway is an image from there life all the way to their death. For example this particular pathway belong to Zabuzu Momochi...and the one over there is Asuma Sarutobi. If you followed either of these pathes engraved with these images it would bring you to their homes."

"People have homes here?" Sasuke said bitterly as he continued walking down the unmarked path he had been following earlier while Kabuto watched him and frowned a bit following behind him.

"Yes they do. For some spirits their stay here is permanent because they can't be judged as nither bad or good. For others this is just a temporary stop, but either way...if there's a spirit that can't be judged right away or needs to be escorted Purgatory is the only place they can call home in their afterlife." Kabuto said as Sasuke continued to stroll along with his hands in his pockets

"And right now...Purgatory is the only place you can call home too, Sasuke." he finished making Sasuke stop again.

"You need to understand that so long as you refuse to move on...this-" he said gesturing to thier surroundings " is the only place your going to find a home in."

Sasuke stood silent as he just looked at Kabuto, who didn't know if Sasuke's silence was in understanding, shock or anger. Either way he needed to state his opinion. Kabuto cared about the souls that lived in Purgatory and Purgatory itself. It was his home and he needed to defend it, but in the same token he did understand and sympathize with Sasuke's frustrations. This was all new to him and he needed to adjust in order to accept his current state.

Kabuto sighed "Well this is your path...if you follow it it'll bring you back to your home here in Purgatory."

"This seems familiar." he said looking at it

"It should. this is the path i used to find you." Kabuto said and then pointed at the engraved stones "and that is your life craved in those stones beneath your feet."

Sasuke looked down and the first stone he laid eyes on was him with his mother as a child. He was smiling and so was she as she held him closely to her handing him a necklace that had his family insignia on it. he automatically reached up to his neck and was greeted with an unfamiliar emptiness than he was used to. Disappointed he let his hand drop till he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked at Kabuto seeing him smile sadly.

"Our little world of the dead has a town. if you follow this unmarked path it'll bring you to it. feel free to visit. It might make it-" Kabuto stopped and searched for the right words in his mind before a soft smile came onto his face "it make it a little easier for you for you. make you feel like maybe you still have something from your old life with you."

And with that Kabuto just patted his shoulder and carried on while Sasuke stood at the end of his own pathway to his new found home in Purgatory. He looked down the path seeing it was a bit dark and he couldn't really see the end of it. He sighed to himself and just looked back at the distant Kabuto for a moment before walking down his own path.

* * *

Sakura had left her therapists office and started heading home slipping the hood to her sweater over her head and then opening her umbrella. As she walked she focused on the sound of the rain drops drumming lightly on her umbrella. It was a sound the soothed her and calmed her. Made her not think of the things from that night, but in the same token it was hard not to. It had been for weeks and people were still talking about. An image of Sasuke was placed on the wall by the principles office and his "girlfriend" as cried over how much she missed him, though there were never any real tears. More than anything it pissed Sakura off to no end when Karin bad mouthed him only the day after he had died.

"Why the hell were you and him alone in his house?!" she had asked "i thought you were suppose to be a good girl not a slut!"

"I'm not." Sakura had simply said "it was just for the school project."

"Yeah right! i know you wanted him...well guess what now nither of us can have him bitch!" Karin had yelled when Sakura slowly walked away in school that day listening to the whispers, listening to the insults. it didn't take much for Karin to convince the school population that Sakura was a "cheating slut", some new otherwise though such as Naruto, Sasuke's best friend, Hinata, Naruto's girlfriend, Gaara and her best friend Ino.

Sakura closed her eyes at the stop light waiting for it to change while she tried to get rid of the thoughts of her fellow class mates. School had went from annoying to almost unbearable. The days had gotten harder between dealing with the students and just the memories of what happened that day it was seriously taking a toll on her.

"Hey lady, the light changed." a guy said walking passed her and making her look up seeing that the light had in fact changed and she could cross the street.

'I don't want to go home...not yet.' she thought to herself just staring at the glowing white figure that indicated she could walk across the street, but she just stood there and then looked back down at the ground before covering her eyes with her hand trying to hold back the tears she felt building up till she felt someone bump into her again walking in the opposite direction.

"Oh excuse me." the male voice said placing a hand on her shoulder, till her stopped and then looked at her. She looked at recognizing him immediately, but didn't say anything.

"Your Sakura...right?" he asked and she just slowly nodded. He took a deep breath before offering her a sad smile.

"I don't know if you know who i am...but i'd really like to talk to you."

"Your...Sasuke's brother right?...Itachi?" she asked, but she knew she was right. His long black hair in a ponytail, stress lines and dark signature Uchiha orbs were unforgettable.

"That's right." he said nodding "care to join me for a cup of coffee or something at the cafe?"

"...sure." she said after a moment and he nodded with a smile gesturing for her to follow him. She nodded and looked over her shoulder back at the cross walk sign seeing the white figure change to the orange-red do not cross sign before following behind him.

* * *

**A/N: Please ignore any typo's or mis-spellings, leave a comment and let me know how i'm doing. Thanks for the support.**


End file.
